The Fate of a Survivor
by SineadOakenshield
Summary: Luthien, daughter of Sindir is a woman who has lost everything. Her family, friends and kin have all killed by orcs. Gandalf encourages her to become a ranger and leads her onto a quest to track Thorin Oakenshield to ensure his safety on his quest to retake Erebor.


**Author's Note: This is the first fan fiction I have written in quite a while, so if anyone spots any errors, please politely let me know! :-) My OC Luthien is not Luthien from the Silmarillion. She is name after Luthien by her father. I'll have that explained later on in the story. Enjoy! :-)**

Luthien daughter of Sindir awoke to a loud crash. Her eyes flew open, and she flung herself out of her bed. Why was the castle shaking so violently? She lit a candle in her room and approached the only occupying window. She saw fire licking the outside castle walls. She then saw a troop of orcs approaching the castle, killing her father's men easily. She knelt down bellow the window, so that the orcs could not see her through the window. She lifted up a hidden floorboard and pulled out a dagger inside a brown carved leather sheath. Her father had never permitted her to fight or spar with his men, so the castle blacksmith, Hadol, had given her a steel dagger that he had made in his forge for her for one of her birthdays. He had of course, given the dagger to her in secret, so her father did not know. Her father had said that: "Fighting is for men and men alone. Women do no not fight". Well, thank the gods for Hadol, otherwise Luthien without his dagger would be no hope against any of those orcs. She tightened the belt and sheaf around her waist, and tip toed to her wardrobe. Her father had never allowed her to fight, but he did allow her to take up archery. Luthien was quite the master at it. She opened her wardrobe and equipped her bow and arrows. Luthien had to find her family. The castle was swarming with orcs, so it would be difficult, but they were her family. She could not abandon them. She carefully opened her bedroom door, and silently stepped down the spiral staircase that led to the great hall. She pulled her long jet-black hair out of her her eyes and pulled out her bow as she reached the last step, and turned around the corner of the staircase. There were three orcs in the hall. Two were armed with swords, which looked like they were sharpened very recently, and one had a bow. They were talking franticly in low voices. The language was completely foreign to Luthien, but it sounded as if they were talking in what her father and Mithrandir had named 'black speech'. Mirandir, or namely know as Gandalf the Grey, was a wizard who had advised Luthien's father Sindir on many occasions. He had drank and eaten in their hall, and was considered a good friend. Luthien was rather fond of him. He told her tales of the outside worlds, and encouraged her to explore them, much to her father's displeasure. Luthien suddenly stopped thinking about Mithrandir, and tried to pay attention to what the orcs were saying. Suddenly, someone grabbed her from the back of her dress. She was lucky that she was not hard to frighten as Hadol whispered: "It's me" in her ear. He pulled Luthien into a nearby cellar room and sealed the exit. "Hadol what are you doing?" Luthien was rather upset that he would frighten her like that. He could have given away her hiding spot to the orcs.

"My lady, I'm so sorry" Hadol panted. He looked utterly frightened, so Luthien forgave him.

"Hadol, why are there orcs sieging the castle?" Luthien asked.

Hadol was slow to respond. "They're looking for dwarves".

"Dwarves?" Now Luthien remembered. Her father had admitted entrance to a group of dwarves. Two young looking dwarves, one had black hair and one gold hair. They were both playful and tried talking to Luthien on at least a few occasions. There was also an older dwarf, who looked as though he was looking out for the younger dwarves. He had told Sindir that they were his nephews. He had dark long hair and would often look at Luthien's father with respect. He wasn't as talkative as his nephews were, but Luthien could tell that he had been in and seen many battles.

"What would be so damn important about some dwarves who came here weeks ago?" Luthien cursed.

"Well" Hadol paused. "One of them is wanted. It's said someone wants his head". Hadol shuddered at the mention of this.

"That's not good." Luthien was now frightened.

Hadol whispered. "The war captain is here looking for Thorin Oakenshield, says he was ere' a couple of weeks ago".

"Why didn't my father tell me any of this?" Luthien was shocked. When her father had a special guest, he usually informed Luthien of who the guest was and why they were staying at the castle.

"He probably didn't wan' anyone knowing" Hadol replied.

"Anyway, back to the current situation, why have you locked me in here? My father wouldn't have wanted you to lock me up in a cellar". Luthien was getting impatient. She wanted to find out if her family were alive and well.

"Well, I thought since I might not get outta this alive, I wanted to give you this armour I made up for you my lady". Hadol's eyes grew misty.

"Hadol, it's okay, we'll make it through this!" Luthien did not want to loose her blacksmith.

Hadol smiled as he saw that Luthien had sheafed his dagger. He then pulled out a set of black leather armour. It was as a light as a feather when Luthien held it.

Hadol looked back at her. She noticed that he had tears streaming down and onto his long black beard. "I'm proud of you girl." Luthien hugged the old blacksmith goodbye.

"All right then, I'll leave ya to get changed in your armour." He pulled out a hammer that he had sheafed next to his waist. "Kill some orcs for me will ya?"

Luthien nodded. Hadol opened the cellar door and closed it. Luthien changed into the leather armour, removed her dress and hid it inside and empty wine barrel. She prayed that the old blacksmith would live.


End file.
